Fantastic Beasts 3 Star Says Copying Johnny Depp Would Be Creatively Stupid

While Harry Potter‘s spinoff movie franchise has thus far failed spectacularly in imitating the success of its predecessor, J.K. Rowling and the folks at Warner Bros. seem adamant to see this through to its conclusion. To that end, the studio hired Mads Mikkelsen to take over from Johnny Depp as Grindelwald in the wake of the latter’s controversial court battle with former wife Amber Heard.

The decision to remove the Pirates of the Caribbean star from Fantastic Beasts 3 was originally met with backlash, mostly due to the fact that fans didn’t agree with the verdict. Still, no one ever doubted the Another Round actor’s aptitude to portray the sinister villain for so much as a second. Make no mistake, Mikkelsen is absolutely capable of pulling this off in a compelling and remarkable manner. Some would even argue that he’s actually a better choice for the Dark Wizard.

Still, despite Grindelwald being able to change his form, the transition from Depp to the new star will definitely need some getting used to, especially for fans who’ve followed the series from the very beginning. And apparently, Mikkelsen is trying to put a unique spin on the character as per what he recently told Collider.

“Nobody’s interested in me going in there and trying to copy anything,” he said. “That would be creative suicide immediately, especially when it’s been done before and masterfully. So everybody’s expecting us to find a different path. Having said that, we need a bridge between what he did and what I’m gonna do, so those bridges you have to find together, whether it’s a certain look, whether it’s a certain attitude in certain situations, but you have to make it your own. Anything else would be plainly just creatively stupid.”

Mikkelsen further explained why he accepted the chance to come on board and take over from Depp, saying:

“I’m a big fan of the Potter universe, and it’s a kind of genre that you don’t touch upon in my part of the world. You can’t get away with that budget-wise in Denmark, so obviously when it came my way it was a fantastic opportunity.”

Fantastic Beasts 3 will supposedly feature Albus Dumbledore’s legendary battle with Grindelwald, something that Rowling has been essentially teasing since the first Harry Potter book. And now, we’ll finally be able to see it on the big screen. What’s more, Jude Law and Mikkelsen’s potential chemistry might actually end up redeeming the middling second installment, so that’s certainly something to look forward to for Potterheads as well.